Can-opener.



No. 874,290. PATENTBD DEO.'17, 1907.

B. BIEHL.

CAN OPENER.

- APPLICATION FILED JAN,17.1907.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

BERNARD BIEHL, OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO JOHN L. SOMMER, OF NEWARK,-

NEW JERSEY.

CAN-OPENER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 17, 1907.

Application filed January 1'7 1907- Serial No. 352,782.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, BERNARD BIEHL, a citizen of the United States, residing in Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Can-Openers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to that class of can ous diameters in the heads of cans.

The objects of my invention are to provide a cheap, simple and eflicient device, easily adjusted and operated; to cause the knife to be held automatically in any position to which it may be adjusted, and to obtain other advantages and results as brought out in. the following description.

Referring to the accompanying drawings in which like numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts in each of the several drawings, Figure 1 is a side-elevation of one form of can opener embodying the features of the invention; Fig. 2 is an edge view of the same; Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical section on line looking in the direction indicated by the arrows; Fig. 4 is a vertical view in part section on line :20, looking in the direction indicated by the arrow; Fig. 5 shows an alternative non-adjustable construction.

In said drawings, 1 indicates the body portion or handle of a compass can opener,pref erably formed by bending a heavy piece of spring wire into U-shape. One branch, 2, of the handle, is longer than the other, and is provided with an off-set piercing and center ing point 3. The other branch, 4, of the handle, is preferably provided at its end with a head 5 to form a stop for the knife. The lower branch 2, is preferably flattened and broadened for a considerable portion of its length, as indicated at 6, to stiffen it to withstand the pressure applied to the handle when operating the can opener, and to keep 45 the two branches of the handle parallel and I prevent wabbling of the knife.

The knife consists of a yoke 8, extending transversely across both branches of the handle 1, and having in it orifices 9 and 10 forming bearings for the passage of the branches 2 and 4 of the handle; said orifices being somewhat larger than the portions of the handle passing through them, so as to openers adapted to cut round holes of varipermit the branches 2 and 4 to be pressed together slightly to facilitate movement of the knife along the handle. This yoke has a downwardly-projecting cutting and piercing portion or spur 11, the edge of which is sharpened for cutting and the point of which is sharpened for piercing the heads of cans. To steady the knife and give it additional bearing on the handle, said knife is provided at the top with a bent-over portion 12 likewise having an orifice for the branch 4 of the handle.

The handle being formed of spring metal, and its branches having some spring-action tending to spread them apart, the knife is normally held stationary by friction due to such spring-action; but by pressing branches 2 and 4 together slightly, as may be done easily while holding the handle, the knife is freed instantly, and said knife may then be slid to any desired position, and,the pressure of the hand being released, will be held in such position by the spring-action of the handle.

In the form of device shown in Fig. 5, the knife is not adjustable; the device being in other respects substantially the same as that described above.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new is;

1. As an article of manufacture, a can opener comprising a spring metal rod bent to U-form with straight parallel branches tending to spread apart at their disjoined ends, one branch being longer than the other and provided with an offset centering point and the shorter branch with a head, and a knife extending transversely of said frame and connected to and supported on both branches, thereby alone serving to overcome said spreading tendency.

2. As an article of manufacture, a can opener comprising a U-frame of spring-material, one branch of said frame having a centering point, and a knife having two bearings 011 one branch and one on the other and mounted to slide therealong and normally held in position frictionally by pressure of the sides of said frame due to the spring-action thereof.

3. As an article of manufacture, a can opener comprising two members, to wit: a handle having two branches joined at one end only and adapted to form guides for a sliding cutter knife, one of said branches provided With a centering point, and a knife having a sliding bearing for one of said branches and two such bearings for the other.

4. As an article of manufacture, a can opener comprising a handle having two branches, adapted to form guides for a sliding cutter knife, one branch provided With a centering point, and a knife extending transversely across said handle and having sliding bearings for both said branches, the end of said knife distant from its cutting portion turned over lengthwise of the handle and having a second bearing thereon.

5. As an article of manufacture, a can opener comprising a handle formed of a metal rod bent to U-form, one branch longer point, and flattened and broadened in the plane of the handle to stiffen it, and a knife having bearings for the flattened part of the one branch and for the other branch and mounted to slide along both branches.

6. As an article of manufacture, a can opener comprising a U-frame, and a knife mounted on both branches of said frame to slide therealong, one branch of said frame being of approximately polygonal section in that portion of it over which said knife travels, the knife having correspondingly shaped bearing orifices.

7. As an article of manufacture, a can opener comprising'a U-frame, and a knife mounted on both branches of said frame to slide therealong, one branch of said frame being flattened and broadened in the plane of the handle in that portion of it over which said knife travels, the knife having correspondingly shaped bearing orifices. than the other, provided with a centering BERNARD BIEHL. In the presence of ELSIE A. MAY, FREDERICK GERMANN, Jr. 

